Staying in your RV overnight at Walmart

Guys first post and it's not even a hello....

And I want to ask him...so what? I looked at the pix and for sure, there are a couple that 'expose' the new reality for thousands of people. Then there are a couple pics with some pretty healthy looking dogs and cats...at least one 'newer' A,along with the one with cats and dogs all over the dash. One of the guy sleeping om the ground? C'mon..he has a m/c right beside him and a van on the other side. Was just getting some zz's.

Because I travel the secondaries and back roads, the small communities, I see the many, many people that have lost it all. That are now living in cars, trucks, school buses, vans, Class A's, C's and B's. Pretending they don't exist, or trying to Regulate them away doesn't do a darn thing to address the problem.

If you don't like it...don't look. And for heavens sake, stop with almighty 'better than them' nonsense. If you are well off...good for you. Some of that is because of good luck, some is good planning, some of you had it given to you, but believe me when I say...you are one heartache from loosing it and joining the ranks of 'nomads' you so loudly demean.


Gary Haupt

scroller95969 wrote:

mileshuff wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
I doubt that the Flagstaff WalMart would allow long-term nomads. This WalMart is known for not allowing multiple nights of RVing. Sorry, but this kind of practice is what the cities go after in restricting 'overnights' at WalMarts. This is not what WalMart had in mind.

Flagstaff city ordinance doesn't allow any over night stays in parking lots anywhere in city limits. One night is too much in Flagstaff.

The one pic looks like the Walmart on E. Huntington that we stayed in this spring for a night with about 5-6 other rigs and didn't get hasseled. Didn't see anybody that looked long term.

X2
We stayed there about 3 years ago. No signs and no problems at all. We got up the next morning and went and had breakfast at WM.

The cops showed up to roust a pan handler. They never said boo to me. They were very nice to the guy and his wife and VERY respectful. My hats off to these VERY professional officers.

My wife felt sorry for the guy and went over to see what was up. She chatted with him so long I went over to see what was up. Super nice people. He said he used to have an average house and average life until the economy hit the skids and he got sick; then he lost everything. I asked him a lot of questions to see if everything added up and everything sounded legit. We sat and talked a long time about life and the way things happen and turn out. My wife gave him $15 bucks so our girls could tag his van.

About a year after that I lost my job and my wife lost hers about 3 months later. If I did not have everything paid for I would have been in this guys shoes. I often think of that guy and his wife. He changed my way of thinking and how I feel for the better. We often talk about that night in WalMart.

If it came down to it, A Wal-mart beats sleeping with one eye open at a rest stop, since at least there is some security there, and the locals really don't want to get banned from the property, as opposed to the rest stop where they can be shooed away, but always return.

From the pictures, it appeared to be mainly people just using the WM as a place to rest. I fear that people look at that article and think that those people live there permanently (thus pushing for more anti-overnight laws and regulations.)

mileshuff wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
I doubt that the Flagstaff WalMart would allow long-term nomads. This WalMart is known for not allowing multiple nights of RVing. Sorry, but this kind of practice is what the cities go after in restricting 'overnights' at WalMarts. This is not what WalMart had in mind.

Flagstaff city ordinance doesn't allow any over night stays in parking lots anywhere in city limits. One night is too much in Flagstaff.

The one pic looks like the Walmart on E. Huntington that we stayed in this spring for a night with about 5-6 other rigs and didn't get hasseled. Didn't see anybody that looked long term.

Many of us would wander by the guy sleeping on the ground beside his bike and judge him as a sad case or maybe a "loser". He was on an 11,000 mile solo journey that I'm sure would be the trip of a lifetime. I'll bet he will have stories for the rest of his life and a lot of memories about such a fantastic journey. It's pretty easy to make the wrong assumption about people and I'm afraid I'm sometimes the guilty one too. I would like to meet this guy, buy him a few beers and listen to his stories.

2gypsies wrote:
I doubt that the Flagstaff WalMart would allow long-term nomads. This WalMart is known for not allowing multiple nights of RVing. Sorry, but this kind of practice is what the cities go after in restricting 'overnights' at WalMarts. This is not what WalMart had in mind.

Flagstaff city ordinance doesn't allow any over night stays in parking lots anywhere in city limits. One night is too much in Flagstaff.

I read them and just read them again. Only one had an RV living in the parking lot. A few were people living out of their cars, not RVers. One was a bicyclist. The rest were in the middle of a trip, apparently just overnighting.
I stand by my original comment. Most are people on vacation, not nomads living in the parking lot.

TOMMY47 wrote:
Overnighting at Walmart is completely different from living in the parking lot.
In looking at these pictures, it looked like all or most of the RV people were just spending the night traveling from 1 destination to another. In reading the text, it generally confirms that. This is a very misleading headline.
I hardly consider someone traveling across the country on vacation, a nomad.
If that's the case, anyone who takes a trip anywhere by any means of transportation should be considered a nomad.

Tommy,
You must have forgotten to read the little stories under each pics. Many of those people were actually living in their vehicles.

I often wonder what goes though a photographers or artists mind to pick a certain topic.